PSE index barely changed amid lack of fresh leads

THE Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) managed to eke out some gains on Tuesday in a trading session that lacked strong market movers.

The bellwether index inched higher by 1.49 points or 0.02% to close at 7,282.68 yesterday.

On the other hand, the broader all shares index gave up 3.41 points or 0.07% to close at 4,404.59.

“Spending most of the day under, the PSEi needed a lastminute surge to close the session in positive territory,” said Justino B. Calaycay, Jr., head of marketing and research at A&A Securities, Inc., in a trading post yesterday, with gains minimal, or “statistically flat.”

“Most sectors were in the green,” Mr. Calaycay said, but noted that market breadth continues to be negative. Four out of six sectoral counters closed positively yesterday. More issues declined at 111, compared with 85 that advanced, while 48 stocks closed unchanged.

Value turnover slightly improved to P5.73 billion on Tuesday from P5.61 billion the other day, as trade volume increased to 1.83 billion shares, up 20% from Monday’s 1.53 billion.

The mining and oil counter led sectoral gainers yesterday, rising by 0.44% or 53.68 points to 12,224.95.

Mr. Calaycay said that despite the controversies surrounding the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) recent closure and suspension orders, Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. continues to negotiate and close supply contracts.

“Despite this good news from the corporate front, we remain cautious on the mining sector in general, which continues to face regulatory risks. Not particularly so on entities which fall under the umbrella of the DENR’s recent orders,” he said.

Holding firms also gained 0.36% or 26.49 points to 7,390.86; property rose by 0.11% or 3.72 points to 3,339.90; and industrials added 0.07% or 8.39 points to 11,139.23.

On the other hand, services dropped 0.72% or 10.25 points to 1,411.25 and financials went down by 0.62% or 11.31 points to 1,786.94.

Foreigners continued their exit to yield a net selling of P558.18 million worth of stocks, higher than Monday’s P393.85million net outflow.

Mr. Calaycay placed the PSEi’s support level at 7,170 and its declining resistance over the next days at 7,240.

“If it breaks above the resistance mark accompanied by a spike in value turnover, say at least 1.2 times the averages, the PSEi could be en route to a target level of close to 8,000 — 300 points above our most optimistic forecast level for the year,” the analyst said.

However, if the index breaks the support, it could fall below 6,400, he said.

Southeast Asian stock markets, except Vietnam and Indonesia, were tepid on Tuesday tracking Asian markets which were steady on a lack of global cues, with US markets closed for the Presidents’ Day holiday on Monday.